Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are his dear children.

Ephesians 5:1 (NLT)

Wow, this verse just kind of jumped out today. Why imitate God? Because you are his child. And not just any child – His dear child. A child that is precious to him. Oh, and we’re urged to imitate God in EVERYTHING we do. Why? Because we’re His son or His daughter.

If we keep in mind that the believer is not just named a child a God but is RECEIVED as His DEAR child then it liberates us to be as our FATHER is. We don’t do GOD things because we should – we do GOD things because we want to bring pleasure to our FATHER.

I’ve seen this at work in my own children’s lives. When I treat them as dear to me. When they KNOW they are dear to me – they go out of their way to imitate me, to do what I do. Why? Because they know I love them, they know they’re important to me.

And so, I will imitate my Father.

(image from WaveCult on Flickr)